document_title: Cotton-Eyed Joe

question_text: when was the song cotton eyed joe written

text: Cotton-Eyed Joe

text: History[edit]

text: The origins of this song are unclear, although it pre-dates the 1861–1865 American Civil War.[1] American folklorist Dorothy Scarborough (1878–1935) noted in her 1925 book On the Trail of Negro Folk-songs, that several people remember hearing the song before the war. Scarborough's account of the song came from her sister, Mrs. George Scarborough, who learned the song from "the Negroes on a plantation in Texas, and other parts from a man in Louisiana." The man in Louisiana knew the song from his earliest childhood and heard slaves singing it on plantations.[2] Both the dance and the song had many variants.[3] The first printed one dates from 1882[4]. American publishing house Harper and Brothers published a version in 1882, heard by author Louise Clarke Pyrnelle (born 1850) on the Alabama plantation of her father when she was a child,[5] that was later republished in 1910:[6]

text: "Cotton-eyed Joe, Cotton-eyed Joe,

text:
What did make you sarve me so,
Fur ter take my gal erway fum me,
An' cyar her plum ter Tennessee?
Ef it hadn't ben fur Cotton-eyed Joe,
I'd er been married long ergo.

"His eyes wuz crossed, an' his nose wuz flat,
An' his teef wuz out, but wat uv dat?
Fur he wuz tall, an' he wuz slim,
An' so my gal she follered him.
Ef it hadn't ben fur Cotton-eyed Joe,
I'd er been married long ergo.

"No gal so hansum could be foun',
Not in all dis country roun',
Wid her kinky head, an' her eyes so bright,
Wid her lips so red an' her teef so white.
Ef it hadn't ben fur Cotton-eyed Joe,
I'd been married long ergo.

"An' I loved dat gal wid all my heart,
An' she swo' fum me she'd never part;
But den wid Joe she runned away,
An' lef' me hyear fur ter weep all day.

O Cotton-eyed Joe, O Cotton-eyed Joe,
What did make you sarve me so?
O Joe, ef it hadn't er ben fur you,
I'd er married dat gal fur true."

text: By 1884, the same year Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published, the fiddle-based song was referred to as "an old, familiar air."[7] In 1925, another version was recorded by folklorist Dorothy Scarborough and published.[8]

text: Don't you remember, don't you know,

text:
Don't you remember Cotton-eyed Joe?
Cotton-eyed Joe, Cotton-eyed Joe,
What did make you treat me so?
I'd 'a' been married forty year ago
Ef it had n't a-been for Cotton-eyed Joe!

Cotton-eyed Joe, Cotton-eyed Joe,
He was de nig dat sarved me so, —
Tuck my gal away fum me,
Carried her off to Tennessee.
I'd 'a' been married forty year ago
If it had n't a-been for Cotton-eyed Joe.

Hi's teeth was out an' his nose was flat,
His eyes was crossed, — but she did n't mind dat.
Kase he was tall, and berry slim,
An' so my gal she follered him.
I'd 'a' been married forty year ago
Ef it had n't a-been for Cotton-eyed Joe.

She was de prettiest gal to be found
Anywhar in de country round;
Her lips was red an' her eyes was bright,
Her skin was black but her teeth was white.
I'd 'a' been married forty year ago
Ef it had n't a-been for Cotton-eyed Joe.

Dat gal, she sho' had all my love,
An swore fum ne she'd never move,
But Joe hoodooed her, don't you see,
An' she run off wid him to Tennessee,
I'd 'a' been married forty years ago,
Ef it hadn't a-been for Cotton-eyed Joe."

text: Scarborough noted that the song seemed to be well known in the South prior to the Civil War, and parts of it had been sent in by various persons.[8]

text:
Over the years, many different versions of the song have been performed and/or recorded with many different versions of the lyrics (and many without lyrics).
"Cotton-Eyed Joe", on occasion referred to as "The South Texas National Anthem", was played for minstrel-type jigs, and it has long been popular as a square dance hoedown and a couple dance polka.[9]

text: A resident of Central Texas who learned the dance in Williamson County in the early 1880s described it as nothing but a heel and toe "poker" with fringes added. These fringes added to the heel and toe polka were clog steps which required skill and extraversion on the part of the dancer.[10]

text:
During the first half of the 20th century, the song was a widely known folk song all over English-speaking North America.
One discography lists 134 recorded versions released since 1950.[11] In more recent decades, the song has waned in popularity in most regions except some parts of the American South, where it is still a popular folk song.[12]

text: A list of the possible meanings of the term "cotton-eyed" that have been proposed includes: to be drunk on moonshine, or to have been blinded by drinking wood alcohol, turning the eyes milky white; a black person with very light blue eyes; someone whose eyes were milky white from bacterial infections of trachoma or syphilis, cataracts or glaucoma; or the contrast of dark skin tone around white eyeballs in black people.[13]

text: Bob Wills and Adolph Hofner and his San Antonians both recorded the song, and Hofner's version (Columbia 37658), issued in 1941,[14] apparently[clarification needed] was the one that did the most to popularize the song.[15]

text: A 1967 instrumental version of the song (KIKR k202) by Al Dean, who recalled the song called "The Gingerbread Man" in South Texas, inspired a new round dance polka for couples. This dance was adapted into a simplified version as a nonpartner waist-hold, spoke line routine. Heel and toe polka steps were replaced with a cross-lift followed by a kick with two-steps. The lift and kick are sometimes accompanied by shouts of "whoops, whoops", or the barnyard term "bull shit", mimicking the act of kicking off barnyard muck.[9] The practice continues to this day. The Kickin′ album included "Cotton-Eyed Joe" by Dean. (KIK-R: 10012)

text: One version of a dance called "Cotton-Eyed Joe" can be found in the 1975 edition of Encyclopedia of Social Dance. This version has the men on the inside of a circle facing out, and the women on the outside facing in. The dance consists of eight kick steps, side, close left together, right together, and a series of struts.[16]

text: The spoke line version gained popularity not only in Texas, but also across the US and overseas.[clarification needed] in the 1980s.[9]

text: Ray Benson of the Western Swing band Asleep at the Wheel talks about playing the Bob Wills version of "Cotton-Eyed Joe" in Texas in the 1970s when the dance was very much alive.[17]

text: A Western "Craze" followed the 1980 release of Urban Cowboy.

text: "Cotton-Eyed Joe", and its continued popularity in Texas, was referred to in the lyrics to Alabama's song "If You're Gonna Play in Texas." "I remember down in Houston we were puttin' on a show when a cowboy in the back stood up and yelled, 'Cotton-Eyed Joe'!"

text: In Merle Haggard's "Texas Fiddle Song", the final verse makes reference to the "Cotton-Eyed Joe" and features the melody of both the Bob Wills and Al Dean versions.

text: The song has become a staple song played at many professional and college baseball games during the seventh-inning stretch with the preference going to the Rednex version.

text: Select list of recorded versions[edit]

text:
Fiddlin' John Carson (earliest known recording)
1928: Gid Tanner's Skillet Lickers, Columbia 15283D, 4/10/1928[18][19][20][21]
1928: Carter Brothers, Vocalion 5349, 11/?/1928 [22]
1941: Burl Ives on the album, The Wayfaring Stranger
1942: Adolph Hofner and his San Antonians, with J. R. Chatwell on fiddle
1947: Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys[23]
1959: Nina Simone on the album, Nina Simone at Town Hall
1960: Walter Brennan
1962: Karen Dalton on the album, Cotton Eyed Joe
1967: Al Dean & the All-Stars
1968: Terry Callier on the album, The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier
1976: Leona Williams on the album, San Quentin's First Lady
1976: The Country Roland Band
1980: Isaac Payton Sweat
1985: Asleep at the Wheel on their self-titled album, Asleep at the Wheel
1985: The Moody Brothers on their self-titled album, The Moody Brothers, Grammy-nominated
1992: The Chieftains with Ricky Skaggs on the album, Another Country, Grammy-nominated
1992: The Muldoon Brothers on the album, Back O' The Barn
1992: Michelle Shocked, adapted version, "Prodigal Daughter (Cotton Eyed Joe)", on the album Arkansas Traveler
1993: Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys on the album, Off the Record
1994: Black Lace, released under the song title, Bullshit
1994: Rednex
2003: Vanessa-Mae on the album, The Ultimate Vanessa-Mae
2010: Josh Rouse on the album, "El Turista"
2010: Hot Club of Cowtown
2011: Bass and Infinity released an a cappella parody version[24]
2014: Lee Matthews, Country and Irish singer, produced a version that topped the Irish Country Singles chart.
2016: The Sweeplings on the album, Covers, Ch. 1 [25]
2017: Daniel Radcliffe, Andy Hull, and Robert McDowell, for the film Swiss Army Man

tag: ul

text: Rednex version[edit]

text: In August 1994, Swedish recording group Rednex covered the song as "Cotton Eye Joe" for their album Sex & Violins, combining their style with traditional American instruments, such as banjos,[26] and fiddles. In 2002, "Cotton Eye Joe" was remixed in a dance version, and was released from Rednex's greatest hits album, The Best of the West.

text: The Rednex version of the song (using "Eye" instead of "Eyed"), along with a dance-mix version, was very successful in Europe, where it remained at number one in Norway for 15 weeks, Switzerland for 13 weeks, Germany for 10 weeks, Sweden for 8 weeks, Austria for 7 weeks, 3 weeks on the UK Singles Chart and 2 weeks on the Dutch Top 40. In Oceania, it topped the New Zealand Singles Chart for 6 consecutive weeks. In Australia it peaked at number 8 in April 1995. In the US, it peaked at number 25 in March 1995.

text: Modern "Cotton-Eyed Joe" versions[edit]

text: The Country and Irish singer Lee Matthews released his version of the song with new added lyrics. The single on his own independent label topped the Irish Country Singles Download Chart in January 2015.[citation needed]


document_title: List of The Nightmare Before Christmas characters

question_text: who is the girl in nightmare before christmas

question_tokens: who is the girl in nightmare before christmas

root

text: List of The Nightmare Before Christmas characters

text: Design[edit]

text: The filmmakers constructed 230 puppets to represent the characters in the movie, with Jack Skellington having "around eight hundred heads", allowing the expression of every possible emotion.[1] Sally's mouth movements "were animated through the replacement method. During the animation process,...only Sally's face 'mask' was removed in order to preserve the order of her long red hair. Sally had ten types of faces, each made with a series of eleven expressions (e.g. eyes open and closed, and various facial poses) and synchronised mouth movements."[2]

tag: p

text: Main characters[edit]

text: Jack Skellington[edit]

text: The film's protagonist, Jack Skellington is a skeleton who holds the title of The Pumpkin King.[3][4] Under that alias, he is the titular hero of the prequel video game The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King. He is popular among the inhabitants of Halloween Town, due to his charming personality and aim to please. Despite a lack of inhibition, he means well. He is in charge of Halloween. Having not left it within many years (as heard in the song Jack's Lament where he mentions England, Kentucky and France), he felt his inspiration for his own holiday waning. Christmas Town gave him new ideas and inspiration. He also appears in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge.[5]

text: He is voiced in all appearances by Chris Sarandon, and his singing voice in the film was provided by Danny Elfman.[6][7] Since the film was originally released as an adults product, as it was thought to be "too dark and scary for kids",[8] in non-English speaking countries, Disney Character Voices Internationalonly dubbed the film in a few languages in which adults movies, as well as kids movies, are usually dubbed, while in the rest of countries it was only released with subtitles. A few versions dubbed only the spoken lines, leaving the songs in English.

text:
[show]Jack's dubbers worldwide

Language
Dialogues
Singing

Brazilian Portuguese VHS
Nelson Machado Filho (pt)

Brazilian Portuguese DVD
Marcelo Coutinho

Castilian Spanish
Antonio Miguel Fernández Ramos
Tony Cruz (es)

Catalan
José Posada
Danny Elfman

Czech
Jan Vondráček
Danny Elfman

Dutch
Florus van Rooijen (nl)

English
Chris Sarandon
Danny Elfman

French
Olivier Constantin (fr)

German
Alexander Goebel (de)

Greek
Unknown
Unknown

Hungarian
Csík Csaba Krisztián (hu)
Danny Elfman

Italian
Renato Zero

Japanese
市村正親 (Masachika Ichimura)

Korean
김승죽 (Kim Seung-jun)
남경주 (Nam Gyeong-Ju) (ko)

Latin American Spanish
Sergio Saldívar

Polish
Wojciech Paszkowski (pl)

Russian
Алексей Кортнев (Aleksej Kortnyev) (ru)

Slovak
Unknown
Unknown

Thai
Unknown
Unknown

Turkish
Unknown
Danny Elfman

tag: table

text: Jack Skellington made cameos in the film James and the Giant Peach as the "pirate captain".[9] Jack Skellington appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Anne Marie's Pride" voiced by Victor Yerrid.[10]

text: Sally[edit]

text:
Sally

First appearance
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Created by
Tim Burton

Voiced by
Catherine O'Hara (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Attractions)
Kath Soucie (Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II and The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge)

text: Sally is Jack Skellington's love interest. She is a very pretty, loving, caring, and shy rag doll who told Jack that Christmas and Halloween shouldn't be mixed. She is originally patched together by Doctor Finkelstein. She is the only one to have doubts about Jack's Christmas plan. Although her creator attempts to keep her constantly imprisoned, she often manages escape by slipping him deadly nightshade, causing him to fall asleep. Nightshade is a flower that grows atop the grave of a dead witch, as seen before Jack's first song which induces temporary somnolence upon consumption. This becomes essential to Sally managing to trick the Doctor and escape. Despite her makeshift appearance, Sally is a determined individual with a good feel for what is right. Fiona Apple provides the vocals for "Sally's Song" on the 2006 special edition of The Nightmare Before Christmas: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, while Amy Lee provides the vocals for "Sally's Song" on Nightmare Revisited. She also appears in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge.[11]

text: Sally is a rag doll-type character, with detachable limbs stuffed with fall leaves. She often falls apart, requiring her to sew herself back together, and carries a set of sewing needles and thread for precisely that purpose. She was created by Doctor Finklestein, Halloween Town's resident mad scientist, as a companion. Their relationship is rather tense, as Finklestein insists on keeping Sally under lock and key, under the pretext of protecting her from the excitement of the outside world. However Sally is restless, and is intrigued by the wonders of the outside world.

text: It is this restlessness, or, more specifically, this desire for something better in her life, that draws her to Jack Skellington. In the beginning of the movie, she idolizes and admires Jack much like any of the other female members of Halloween Town; however, she quickly discovers that they are connected by the desire for something more in their lives, and her feelings for him intensify. The two refer to each other as "friends", though Jack seems unaware of Sally's true feelings for him, as she is too shy to make them known to him other than through her sweet actions, however this could be argued because after Boogie's defeat, Jack and Sally are left alone and Jack sees that Sally tried her best to help him. Thus prompting him to finally realize how much she cares for him and how much he loves her in return.

text: On the album to the film it is mentioned that years later Sandy Claws returned to Halloween Town and saw that Jack now had four or five skeleton children of his own. Many fans of the film and of the franchise assume that given the ending to the film, that Jack and Sally eventually got married and had a family of their own.

text: Bryan Theiss declares that "Sally is one of those rare fantasy characters we can relate to on a certain level as much as we can to real-world characters on a more literal level."[12]

text: Sally's voice was played by Catherine O'Hara throughout the movie,[7][9] and Kath Soucie in the video game spin-offs.

text:
[show]Sally's dubbers worldwide

Language
Dialogues
Singing

Brazilian Portuguese VHS
Marli Bortoleto (pt)

Brazilian Portuguese DVD
Sylvia Salustti (pt)

Castilian Spanish
Ángela González
María Caneda

Catalan
Berta Cortés
Catherine O’Hara

Czech
Tereza Bebarová
Catherine O’Hara

Dutch
Liesbet Hermans

English
Catherine O’Hara

French
Dorothée Jemma
Nina Morato

German
Nina Hagen

Greek
Unknown
Unknown

Hungarian
Kiss Virág (hu)
Catherine O’Hara

Italian
Laura Boccanera
Marjorie Biondo (it)

Japanese
土居裕子 (Yuko Doi) (ja)

Korean
은영선 (Eun Yeong-seon) (ko)
이혜경 (Yi Hye-gyeong)

Latin American Spanish
Gabriela Vega

Polish
Joanna Węgrzynowska (pl)

Russian
Тутта Ларсен (Tutta Larsen)

Slovak
Unknown
Unknown

Thai
รัดเกล้า อามระดิษ (Ratklao Amaradit) (th)

Turkish
Unknown
Catherine O’Hara

text: Oogie Boogie[edit]

text:
Oogie Boogie

First appearance
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Created by
Tim Burton

Voiced by
Ken Page

text: Oogie Boogie is the main antagonist of the film. Oogie Boogie is essentially the Bogeyman, resembling a large burlap sack. When Oogie Boogie is defeated, it is revealed that he is a colony of bugs wrapped in sacking.

text: Oogie Boogie did not appear in Tim Burton's original poem, but Burton later sketched a portrait of what appeared to be a potato sack man with horrible things inside.[13] The Oogie puppet was two feet high, twice the height of the other puppets.[13] In his autobiography Burton on Burton, Burton says that Oogie Boogie was loosely inspired by Cab Calloway's 1932 appearance in a Betty Boop cartoon, and that he asked Danny Elfman to make Oogie's song in Nightmare slightly resemble Calloway's 1931 recording of the song "Minnie the Moocher". Elfman ended up referencing the Betty Boop cartoon The Old Man of the Mountain (1933), also featuring Calloway. Santa's line "Well, what are you going to do?" and Oogie Boogie's response of "I'm gonna do the best I can!" are direct quotes from this cartoon. Another idea for Oogie's identity was for him to be Dr. Finklestein in disguise, gaining revenge on Jack and Sally, but it was not pursued past storyboards since Tim Burton scrapped the idea. This is visible on the Special Edition DVD.

text: Unlike all the other inhabitants of Halloween Town, who are merely monsters who scare people simply because they enjoy it as a celebration of their skill and fun, it appears that Oogie is truly evil. It is suggested that his sinister nature had resulted in his exile from the mainstream Halloween Town. He lives in an underground lair full of torture devices, each of which features a casino-like appearance. Red skeletons — implied to be the remains of previous victims — are in several of the devices, and overhanging chains are used as perches by skeletal bats. Oogie Boogie's lair, during his theme song, is lit with black lights in the style of a cheap funhouse. Under these, Oogie himself glows bright green, similar to a glow stick. After the lights dim, however, the bright color is sapped from his lair, transforming its appearance into that of a dank, cellar-like dungeon. Above his lair is the clubhouse of Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who feed him bugs regularly via a metal chute. It is at first believed that Oogie cannot be killed or die but it is later revealed he can be destroyed if his brain, the lead bug, is destroyed. In the movie, Lock, Shock and Barrel kidnap Santa Claus and (against the wishes of Jack, who holds Oogie in great contempt) send him down to Oogie Boogie's lair, where he is bound to a giant roulette wheel. According to deleted song material (found in the soundtrack version), Oogie plans to add "Sandy Claws" to his new batch of Snake and Spider Stew, to "add a little Spice". Sally, after finding out Santa's fate, attempts to rescue him but is captured herself. Oogie then tortures and tries to kill Sally and Santa Claus, but is destroyed when Jack pulls a thread loose from him, which rips off the sack covering him and causes the majority of his bugs to fall into the lava pit. The lead bug is then squashed by Santa after it falls next to the pit. The rest of the bugs scurry off after this.

text: In The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King, Oogie's origins and the birth of his rivalry with Jack were revealed. As it turns out, he once had his own holiday, Bug Day, that was (most likely) forgotten by the people of the real world and thus vanished. Unfortunately, Oogie escaped, found Halloween Town and decided that it would be the new Bug Day. He and his army of insects invaded the town and nearly took it over. Jack found out and he defeated the bugs and Oogie. Oogie survived the battle, learned to fear the Pumpkin King, and was banished to his underground lair, of which Jack warns that if Oogie ever leave his lair, it would be "game over!" for him(Oogie). Oogie complied, but secretly vowed revenge.

text: In the 2004 video game The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Oogie was resurrected by his henchmen Lock, Shock and Barrel, who sewed him together. He quickly deceived the residents of Halloween Town and tricked the townspeople into making traps for Jack stating that Jack wouldn't return if they can make an even scarier Halloween for next year. Oogie attempted to become the Seven Holidays King, successfully kidnapped the real leaders and tried to murder Santa Claus again. His plans were foiled by Jack. Desperate, Oogie puts up a fight in the Holiday Trash Hill (where all the holiday worlds' garbage goes) by turning into a gigantic junk-filled version of himself named "Mega-Oogie", but he is again destroyed.

text: Oogie also appears with other Disney Villains at Halloween events such as the Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, the HalloWishes and Halloween Screams fireworks shows at the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, respectively, and during "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party" and "Mickey's Halloween Party" separate-admission ("hard ticket") events.

text: Despite the fact that he is hated for the most part by the other inhabitants of Halloween Town, it appears they still allow him to take part in their celebration, as his shadow makes an appearance in the opening musical "This Is Halloween" as the "shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright". In the version of "This Is Halloween" that was heard on The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, a different voice was heard when it came to the shadow on the moon part.

text: He is voiced by Ken Page in all of his appearances.[14]

text: Oogie Boogie also appears in the video game Kingdom Hearts as a member of Maleficent's team of Disney villains. He appears again in the sequel Kingdom Hearts II, where he attempts to turn Santa into a Heartless, and in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as an enemy based on Sora's memories of him.

text: Doctor Finklestein[edit]

text:
Doctor Finklestein

First appearance
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Created by
Tim Burton

Voiced by
William Hickey (film)
Jess Harnell (video games)

text: Doctor Finklestein is a resident of Halloween Town. He is the mad scientist and the "father" of Sally. He is described as a pale-as-a-sheet mad scientist with a duckbill-like mouth and a hinged skullcap that he can open up to reveal his brain. For unknown reasons he uses a motorized wheelchair (early drawings of Finklestein depict him standing freely, and his original action figure followed this example, implying he was not always intended to be a wheelchair user). Finklestein is only referred to as the "Evil Scientist" in the credits. His true name is only mentioned in the movie when the Mayor calls him up to the front of the line for his Christmas assignment.

text: Doctor Finklestein lives in a large observatory with his living rag doll creation Sally[15] and his hunchbacked assistant Igor. James Whale's Frankenstein is quoted in Finklestein's line "I made you with my own hands" which is ironic as Finklestein's body appears to be largely if not entirely artificial. Unlike Frankenstein who takes no responsibility for his creations and disowns them almost as soon as they are completed (much like the original Dr. Frankenstein), Finklestein takes full responsibility over Sally and acts as an over-protective father and in some ways an overbearing husband (thus explaining Sally's attempts to run away) by keeping her under lock and key under the pretext of sheltering her from the world. In addition to being an overbearing and antagonistic father figure for Sally to overcome, Finklestein also has a hand in helping Jack Skellington (of whom he seems to be very fond) with his plan to take over Christmas by bringing to life several skeletal reindeer to pull Jack's sleigh. At the end of the film, Finklestein, deciding that Sally is too much of a handful, creates a wife for himself using a portion of his own brain.

text: Dr. Finklestein is featured in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. When Jack is tired of doing the same thing at Halloween, Dr. Finklestein helps him by giving him the Soul Robber, a weapon that allows Jack to change its shape. Jack also tells Dr. Finklestein to watch over the town while he is away. After Oogie Boogie's revival, Dr. Finklestein was under Oogie's control by switching his brain to a different one and created monsters that obey Oogie Boogie's every command. Fortunately, Jack was able to put Dr. Finklestein's original brain back in place making Dr. Finklestein break from Oogie's control. In the game spin-offs, Finklestein's name is pronounced "steen" instead of "stein". For some reason, his wife creation "Jewel" is not present in the game, and Sally appears to still be living with him even though in the movie she appeared to be free at the end. Sally even says "He insists on keeping me locked up" while next to the Hanging Tree in the Graveyard.

text: Finklestein also appears in Kingdom Hearts and other games in the series. When the Heartless appear in Halloween Town, Jack thinks of adding them to the Halloween celebrations and asks Dr. Finklestein for advice. Realizing that the Heartless need a heart, the two find the ingredients for one: pulse and emotion (terror, fear, hope, and despair). Their initial experiment fails, and Dr. Finklestein sends Jack off with Sora and the gang to retrieve two more ingredients, memory and surprise, thus completing the heart. However, the heart is stolen by Oogie Boogie. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, created from Sora's memories, Dr. Finklestein creates a potion that allows people to see their true memory. The only problem is that once he sniffed the potion, Heartless appeared. In Kingdom Hearts II Finklestein creates an experiment aided by Lock, Shock, and Barrel. As the Experiment has no heart, it goes on a rampage to steal gifts, in an attempt to understand the emotions behind giving and gain a heart of its own. Sadly, Sora and the gang have no choice but to destroy the Experiment.

text: Dr. Finklestein was voiced by William Hickey in the film[14] and by Jess Harnell in the video game spin-offs. His Japanese voice is provided by Yūji Mitsuya.

text: Mayor of Halloween Town[edit]

text:
The Mayor of Halloween Town

First appearance
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Created by
Tim Burton

Voiced by
Glenn Shadix (film, Kingdom Hearts II, Oogie's Revenge)
Jeff Bennett (Kingdom Hearts)

text: The Mayor of Halloween Town is depicted as a short, fat man, who has the appearance of a giant candy corn with a cone-shaped head, wearing an impossibly tall top hat, a spider bolo tie, and a ribbon of office that says "Mayor" on it. His cone-shaped head has two faces. One face is peach-skinned, rosy-cheeked, and smiling while the other face is white-skinned, pale and frowning with pointed teeth. Depending on the Mayor's mood, his head swivels around to display the right face with a loud clicking sound; the other face, when not in use, has its eyes closed and is considered dormant. This split personality is likely inspired by Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and is a literal interpretation of the phrase "two-faced politicians".

text: Despite his office, the Mayor apparently has very little actual authority in the day-to-day running of the town, or has very little confidence in his leadership skills, especially in planning for Halloween. This is attested when he arrives at Jack Skellington's house to discuss some plans with him, not knowing that Jack is not home. When Jack does not answer, the Mayor quickly gets hysterical and yells, more to himself than anyone, "Jack, please, I'm only an elected official here! I can't make decisions by myself!". Nonetheless, the Mayor seems to enjoy his position. He apparently owns the only automobile in town, a hearse-like car called the "Mayor-mobile" that is equipped with a loudspeaker for making announcements and a black cat-shaped hood ornament that sounds a siren when its tail is cranked. The Mayor supports Jack and helps him in his quest to bring his own version of Christmas to the world, despite his secret misgivings about it. When Jack is apparently killed by the US Army, the Mayor openly admits he had a bad feeling about "this Christmas thing," and sorrowfully goes off in his Mayor-mobile to make the announcement throughout Halloween Town and the surrounding countryside that "the king of Halloween has been blown to smithereens". Later, he is told by Lock, Shock, and Barrel that Jack is in over his head and alive, and comes to retrieve him and Sally after Oogie Boogie has been defeated. The Mayor of Halloween Town is among the citizens surprised (and once again uneasy) when it starts snowing in Halloween Town, but when he catches a snowflake on his tongue, his head swivels around to reveal his pleased expression.

text: The Mayor of Halloween Town appears in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. His role in both games is fairly minor. In the first game, he helps Jack and Sora find an ingredient they need for the heart Dr. Finklestein is making. In the second game, he tries to stop two Heartless outbreaks by yelling at the Heartless through his megaphone, but has no success.

text: In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, the Mayor is seen in the opening cut scene congratulating Jack on another "horrible" Halloween. He is later seen in the level "Mayor's Madhouse" where Jack rescues him from a cage hanging from the roof of his house. While Jack goes to Christmas Town, the Mayor frees the other holiday leaders.

text: He is voiced by Glenn Shadix in the film, Oogie's Revenge, and Kingdom Hearts II.[14] and by Jeff Bennett in Kingdom Hearts. His Japanese voice actor is Tōru Ōhira.

text: Lock, Shock and Barrel[edit]

text:
Lock, Shock, and Barrel

First appearance
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Created by
Tim Burton

Voiced by
Paul Reubens (Lock)
Catherine O'Hara (Shock)
Danny Elfman (Barrel)

text: Lock, Shock, and Barrel are introduced as Oogie Boogie's "little henchmen". The trio are not very loyal to Oogie, as they are simply making mischief both for their own fun and to stay on his good side (in other words: they serve him out of fear) and after his death they just have harmless fun, which they seem to enjoy more. However, this is contrasted by their lack of common sense as, presumably due to their lust for mischief they have shown no protest when their master was revived in the spinoffs, and once out of boredom revived him themselves in "Oogie's Revenge".. They all three are trick-or-treaters, with masks similar to their faces (e.g. Barrel's skeleton mask is large and round to fit his face, with a huge grin on it like his near-permanent creepy smile). Their names are a play on the phrase, "lock, stock, and barrel." Though not totally antagonistic, they are usually the comedy relief. They appear to be Anti-heroes or merely neutral characters, as they'll work for most of those who summon them.

text:
Lock is the leader of Oogie's Boys, but does not always think through things thoroughly and just likes to be in charge. Lock wears a red devil costume; his tail is a real devil's tail, his teeth are pointed sharply. His face is narrow and long-jawed with angular features, and his red and brown hair is formed into two horns making him, literally, a handsome devil. He likes to think highly of himself and gets upset when others insult him or take the lead; however, he goes along with others' ideas if he fails to come up with anything himself.
Shock is the only female of Oogie's henchmen. She is the oldest, and the most cunning and intelligent of the three. She has some contempt for the other two and their supposed stupidity, although she often gets tired with them. Shock wears a purple witch costume with an elongated hat and she sometimes carries a broomstick. She has a high-pitched girl's voice, green skin, a pointed nose, and purple wirey hair. She often takes the lead in many plans and likes to be right.
Barrel - is Oogie's "star pupil," presumably the youngest, and considered the stupidest of the three troublemakers, despite his protests to the contrary. He is the butt of many jokes made by his friends but usually gets even through his own tricks which he always gets away with. Barrel wears a skeleton costume and has deformed feet and almost always carries an orange and black lolipop, otherwise resembling a small human boy, albeit one with white skin, sunken eyes, and perfectly coiffed green hair. His face is round and has a perpetual grin, except when he is angry or scared. Barrel usually pilots the walking bathtub the trio use as transport. He also unintentionally bothers Jack when asking him a number of annoying questions. Often he gets left out of things because he is forever falling over his own deformed feet and he is sometimes slow to catch on.

text: Instructing them to "leave that no-account Oogie Boogie OUT of this!" (they promise to do so, but cross their fingers), Jack sends Lock, Shock, and Barrel to "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" (the Halloween Town residents' mistaken name for Santa Claus). At first, they accidentally capture the Easter Bunny, whereupon Jack tells them to apologize and sends them back. They then capture their true quarry, and Jack takes Santa's hat. The trio then take Santa Claus to Oogie's lair, where Oogie taunts and threatens Santa. Once Jack has defeated Oogie and rescued Santa Claus, a hatch above opens and Lock, Shock, and Barrel appear now protagonists, having led the Mayor to Oogie's lair to find them.

text: In The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King, Oogie Boogie sends Lock, Shock, and Barrel out to nab the new "Pumpkin King." They come back with Sally instead, saying she looked like Jack in the dark. Throughout the game, they are behind most of the ruckus going on around town ranging from poisoning the acid pools, driving the leeches crazy, knocking down the town's street lamps, luring Jack into death traps, and helping Oogie in the final battle.

text: In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Lock, Shock, and Barrel decide to revive Oogie Boogie when they learn that Jack leaving Halloween Town. In the game, Jack encounters the three one by one. In chapter 15, the threesome try to stop Jack a final time in their mobile bathtub on top of the Mayor of Halloween Town's house. He defeats them yet they spring a trap and drop him into a maze in Oogie's lair. They do not appear again in the game afterwards.

text: In Kingdom Hearts, after hearing Jack speak of a heart that can control the Heartless, Oogie sends the three out to steal the heart as his plan to take over Halloween Town. After the three are defeated by Sora, Donald, and Goofy, they confess that Oogie made them do it. Later in the game they comment how quiet Halloween town has become without Oogie and consider making a ruckus just to liven things up. In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, the three found a Heartless and raised it before it became too big for them to control.

text: In Kingdom Hearts II, Lock, Shock, and Barrel start off working as Doctor Finklestein's (Not very obedient) lab assistants, until they encounter Maleficent, who revives Oogie Boogie for them and gives them the "Prison Keeper" Heartless to hold off Sora and company. The monster keeps the children in a cage underneath its body, but swallows one of them to act as its "pilot", each giving the monster a different ability and appearance, ultimately swallowing all three of them attacking Sora and party with its full repertoire. After its defeat, the trio run off saying it was 'fun' and unintentionally reveal Oogie's return. In the second visit, the three are accused of stealing presents after they enter Santa's workshop and are caught looking through gifts. Sora and the party have to fight these mischievous rascals by knocking them unconscious and putting them in boxes. In the end, the three claim that they did not steal the presents as they regard Christmas toys to be boring while revealing that they were actually looking for parts for Doctor Finklestein's Experiment. They also cause mischief as obstacles in the "Making Presents" mini game, before and after the fight with the Experiment. After the battle, they run off and are not seen again in the game.

text: Despite having apparently reformed at the end of the film in later appearances, they have reverted to being antagonist. This suggests that they like working for Oogie Boogie more than being good.

text: In the movie, Lock was voiced by Paul Reubens, Shock was voiced by Catherine O'Hara, and Barrel was voiced by Danny Elfman.[14] In the Kingdom Hearts series, Lock was voiced by Jess Harnell, Shock was voiced by Kath Soucie, and Barrel was voiced by Jeff Bennett. In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Paul Reubens reprised the role of Lock, Kath Soucie reprised the role of Shock from the "Kingdom Hearts" series, and Dee Bradley Baker voiced Barrel.

text: Santa Claus[edit]

text:
Santa Claus

First appearance
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Created by
Tim Burton

Voiced by
Ed Ivory (The Nightmare Before Christmas)
Corey Burton (video games)

text: Santa Claus (or Sandy Claws as Jack calls him) is the leader of Christmas Town. When Jack stumbles upon the town, he becomes mesmerized with the holiday and he tries to bring Christmas to Halloween Town. In order to do so, Jack orders Lock, Shock, and Barrel to kidnap Santa on Christmas Eve so Jack can take his place for the Christmas season. The three then take Santa to Oogie Boogie where the holiday figure's life is threatened. A last minute rescue helps save not only Santa, but the entire holiday of Christmas as well. Santa Claus manages to round up the living gifts and replace them with the right ones. Santa Claus is last seen flying over Halloween Town as snow starts to fall.

text: In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Oogie Boogie targets Santa Claus and leaves him hanging over the tracks for his scissor-tipped Oogie Train to drop him. Santa Claus was saved by Jack Skellington. When Oogie Boogie hijacked Santa's sleigh, Jack lets him use the same sleigh he used when Jack tried to improvise Christmas.

text: Santa Claus appears in Kingdom Hearts II. Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy meet Santa Claus when they follow Jack Skellington to Christmas Town. He also made a reference about how Jack Skellington tried to improvise Christmas. Maleficent revives Oogie Boogie and sends him to capture Santa Claus. When Sora defeats Oogie Boogie, Santa Claus tells Jack that he should concentrate on Halloween and Santa should concentrate on Christmas. He also tells Sora to believe that he will meet Riku again. Later on, Santa's presents get stolen by Dr. Finklestein's Experiment. He helps Jack make decoy presents to attract the Experiment. Jack and company get them back by hiding in a decoy present. After they defeat the Experiment, Santa Claus decides to give Jack a taste of what it's like to deliver Christmas presents. When Jack finishes delivering presents, Santa takes back his sleigh and brings forth beautiful snow drops as a present to those in Halloween Town.

text: Santa Claus is voiced by Ed Ivory in the movie and by Corey Burton in the video game spin-offs.

text: Zero[edit]

text:
Zero

First appearance
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Created by
Tim Burton

text: Zero is Jack's faithful ghost dog who floats about freely and follows Jack wherever he goes. His nose, which is in the shape of a jack-o-lantern, also doubles as a bright light.

text: In the Kingdom Hearts series, Zero is often called upon to search for someone. In the film game, he will disappear and reappear depending on whether the player has completed the Halloween Town story.

text: Minor characters[edit]

text: Halloween Town residents[edit]

text:
Bats - There are bats seen all over throughout Halloween Town. The most notable ones are the ones seen appearing before Oogie Boogie's shadow on the moon, and the ones hanging on the Christmas Tree in the real world.
Black Cat - The black cat is a minor animal character from Halloween Town. They appeared during "This is Halloween" and "Sally's Song." There is a possibility that they might be Sally's pet.
Behemoth (voiced by Randy Crenshaw) - A tall, somewhat fat zombie-like man with blue overalls, yellow gloves, and an axe stuck in his head. He looks rather dumb, but looks strong at the same time. He shouted at the Easter Bunny causing him to jump back into the bag. In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, it was shown that Behemoth likes to grow pumpkins as mentioned by Mr. Hyde when Behemoth caught him near his pumpkins.[9]
Clown With The Tear-Away Face (voiced by Danny Elfman in the movie,[7][9] Dee Bradley Baker in the video game spin-off) - A fat vile-looking clown who rides a unicycle and can tear off his face to reveal complete darkness and disappear into a puff of smoke. When his face is on, he speaks in a high voice. But when his face is off, he speaks in a deep, booming voice. He also appears in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge where Jack finds him the sewers upon his return. The Clown then unlocks the gate so that Jack could proceed to the graveyard. In the residential areas of Halloween Town, the Clown's unicycle was out of control causing Jack to use one of Dr. Finklestein's inventions to stop the unicycle.[16]
Corpse Family - A family of zombies consisting of the Corpse Dad (voiced by Kerry Katz), Corpse Mom (voiced by Debi Durst), and Corpse Kid (voiced by Debi Durst). According to The Nightmare Before Christmas Trading Card Game, Corpse Dad is named "Ned," Corpse Mom is named "Bertha," and Corpse Kid is named "Ethan." Corpse Kid would often be seen in the company of Mummy Boy and Withered Winged Demon. Corpse Kid also appears in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge where he would ask questions to Jack.[9][17]
Creature Under the Bed (voiced by Carmen Twilie[9]) - A monster whose sharp teeth and glowing, red eyes are only shown. He is only seen once in the whole entire movie. With the line of "I am the one hiding under your bed, Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red!"
Creature Under the Stairs (voiced by Kerry Katz[9]) - A brownish-grey monster with black and white stipes on his neck. has fingers resembling snake's. and spider-like hair as his line in "This is Halloween" quotes "I am the one hiding under your stairs, fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair!" Unlike most Halloween Town characters, he has no feet. Instead, his body slims down on a board with wheels attached.
Cyclops - A thin, black, pointy-eared monster with one eye. He looks rather nervous. His voice actor was never credited.
Devil (voiced by Greg Proops[9]) - A red devil complete with horns and a goatee. He likes the idea of a Pox being in the box (Christmas present) as suggested by the Harlequin Demon during the town hall meeting song. He is seen working the large saw on the bat toy with the Wolfman and the Corpse Dad during the "Making Christmas" song.
Frankenstein - Frankenstein is seen in Halloween Town during the ending of "This is Halloween" clapping in the crowd in Town Square. He is never seen again through the rest of the film and is most likely just an Easter Egg character.
Gate Keeper - The keeper of the Halloween Town Gate only seen a few times in the film. He is an anthropomorphic raven with yellow suit and a bowler hat.
Ghosts - A quintet of ghosts who provide a chorus role during musical numbers. According to The Nightmare Before Christmas Trading Card Game, their names are Alberto (a Bass), Pietro (a Baritone), Luciano (a Tenor), Sophia (an Alto), and Maria (a Soprano).
Grim Reaper - A Grim Reaper was seen only twice in "This is Halloween" and at the town meeting. You never see his face and he also carries a scythe.
Grim Reaper's Companion - A strange hooded old witch who sits beside the Reaper during the town meeting.[18]
Hanging Tree (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker in the video game spin-off) - A spirited tree. The Hanging Tree also appears in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge where Jack helps him find his skeletons after they got separated from him.[19]

Hanging Skeletons - A bunch of skeletons hanging from the Hanging Tree's branches.

Harlequin Demon (voiced by Greg Proops[9]) - A monster with three moving horns, sharp teeth, and a strange mouth. It attempts to make a hat out of dead rat during the song "Making Christmas". Though Jack voices his opinion and tells the Harlequin Demon to convert a dead bat into a hat. He also has the thought of pox in the box (Christmas present).
Igor (voiced by an uncredited Joe Ranft in the film, Rob Paulsen in the video game sequel) - Dr. Finklestein's assistant who enjoys dog bone treats. He is seen giving at the town meeting and later giving Dr. Finklestein the plans for the skeleton reindeer. In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Igor tells Jack Skellington of Dr. Finklestein's strange behavior. Jack later helps Igor when his bone biscuit treats are stolen.
Jack-O'-Lantern - Numerous Jack-O'-Lanterns can found throughout Halloween Town. One Jack-O'-Lantern can be seen at the town meeting.[20]
Jewel Finklestein (voiced by Eleanor Bron) - She is a monster created by Dr. Finklestein (also thought to be his wife) to replace Sally as his servant. Throughout the film, he is seen creating her and is finally seen at the end pushing his wheelchair during the finale part when the Halloween Town residents are enjoying the snow.
Melting Man - A slimy man in a fancy suit who is always melting. He is seen in the song "Making Christmas" trying to pass off a dead turtle as a present. He is also very sticky and can get things stuck to him easily. In The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King, he was attacked by Oogie during the invitation where Oogie tore him to pieces. The three pieces (consisting of the "bog's brain," the "bone brittle," and the "mucus mold") were used as heads for some headless horsemen while the fourth piece the eyeball was left to roll on the ground. While the Mayor of Halloween Town was looking for ingredients for his lunch, Jack attacks and defeats the horsemen and gathers his piece thinking they were food but when they put them in the pot. The eyeball jumps in and the melting man reassembled himself. He then reveals that Oogie Boogie is behind the bug invasion. To thank Jack, he helps in pulling himself together and he gives him the gum shoes so he can climb up to high places.
Mr. Hyde (voiced by Randy Crenshaw[9]) - A man with little versions of himself in his top hat (similar to The Cat in the Hat). They also appear in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge where they travel with Jack to serve as the Save Points of the game.[21]
Mummy Boy (voiced by Sherwood Ball[9]) - A tiny mummy child with one visible yellow eyeball. He is seen in the company of the Corpse Kid or the Withered Winged Demon. The Mummy Boy is also on top of the mayor's car helping him.
Rats - Several rats can be seen running around Halloween Town. One rat is seen with a Christmas present and a party hat upon Santa Claus being brought into Halloween Town by Lock, Shock, and Barrel.
Shadows - An assortment of shadows consisting of an odd ghostly demon shadow, a werewolf shadow, and a female Siamese Twin shadow who introduce the song "This Is Halloween." The demon and wolf shadows have exactly the same voice.
Skeletal Reindeer - The Skeletal Reindeer were created by Doctor Finklestein in the movie to act as the reindeer that will pull the sleigh that Jack will pilot. They were broken when the air force shot down Jack's sleigh. In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, the Skeletal Reindeer were rebuilt when the sleigh arrives for Santa Claus to use after Oogie Boogie had hijacked Santa's sleigh.
Skeletal Rooster - A Skeletal Rooster is seen crowing before the musical number "Jack's Obsession".
Undersea Gal (voiced by Carmen Twillie) - The Undersea Gal is a cross between a gill-man and a mermaid.
Vampire Brothers (voiced by Randy Crenshaw, Kerry Katz, and Sherwood Ball[9]) - Four vampires that have umbrellas when moving around in the day. They are all a different height and width. Two of them are tall and skinny, the other two are fat. The Vampire Brothers are also apparently of different ranks: Prince, Baron, Lord, and Count. The characters' last appearance in the movie features them playing ice hockey with a small jack-o'-lantern as a puck (a deleted scene on the Collectors' Edition DVD reveals that the puck was originally the severed head of Tim Burton). In The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King, the Vampire Brothers are among the Halloween Town citizens driven out of town by the bug army. One of them is put into some kind trance by Lock, Shock, and Barrel, but is restored to normal after its death. They reward Jack the bat boomerang upgrade Dr. Finkelstein asked him to deliver. The Vampire Brothers also appear in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge where Jack had to find the bat forms of the Vampire Brothers and return them to their coffins in order to change them back. After that was done, the Vampire Brothers stated to Jack Skellington that they opposed Oogie's plan stating that it wasn't the Halloween that Jack wanted which led to them getting trapped in their bat forms. The Vampire Brothers then give Jack the pieces of the key to the Mayor of Halloween Town's house.[22]
Witches - A tall witch (voiced by Susan McBride in the movie, Susanne Blakeslee in the video game) and a short witch (voiced by Debi Durst). While their names aren't given in the movie, the Nightmare Before Christmas trading card game gives them the names "Helgamine" (the tall witch) and "Zeldaborne" (the short witch) They also appear in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge where they have a shop near the town hall.[9][23]
Withered Winged Demon (voiced by Susan McBride[9]) - A small demon that uses his large, torn, and withered wings to walk. He is often seen in the company of the Corpse Kid and the Mummy Boy.
Wolfman (voiced by Glenn Walters[9]) - A werewolf that lives in Halloween Town. In the "Making Christmas" number, he was seen working with the Corpse Dad and the Devil on a bat toy.
Zombie Band - A zombie band that consists of an Accordion player (voiced by L. Peter Callender who was never credited for the role), a bass player, and a saxophone player (voiced by Greg Proops). According to The Nightmare Before Christmas Trading Card Game, the Accordion player is named "Jimmy", the bass player is named "Jim", and the Sax Player (who is famous for the line "Nice work, bone daddy") is named "James". Jim's bass contains a severed head (which almost resembles Danny Elfman) in it that spoke.

text: Halloween Town-based Toys[edit]

text: The following toys were created by the citizens of Halloween Town:

text:
Giant Snake - A large yellow python with black stripes and large mouth. It almost eats the Corpse Dad. Later it eats a Christmas tree much to a child's horror until Santa makes him cough out the tree and a gift as well. It is also unknown what the real gift was for the little boy.
Jack-in-the-Box - A pumpkin-headed jack-in-the-box and a black cat jack-in-the-box were seen being created by the Clown with the Tear Away Face. The pumpkin-headed one was given to a fat kid who was first seen running down a hall in terror and also does an evil laugh. The kid is next seen on a shelf while the jack-in-the-box jumps up and down until Santa rescues him. The fat kid's real present is a candy cane. It is unknown who Jack gave the black cat jack to. They both have a crazy clown face on the front of their boxes.
Man-Eating Wreath - One of the Christmas gifts. Jack gives it to an old lady during his Christmas Eve run.
Scary Teddy - A vampire-like teddy bear with a big open mouth grin and Mickey Mouse-like ears that Jack gives on Christmas. It flies and chases a little boy and a little girl until the real Santa Claus returns and grabs the teddy and gives the two a normal Teddy Bear and a toy Sailboat. In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, the Scary Teddy appears as a common enemy called "Trick" alongside another enemy named "Treat" (a Jack-o'-lantern, thus creating a nod to "trick-or-treat") where their vocal effects are provided by Dee Bradley Baker.
Shrunken Head - A shrunken head that Jack Skellington as Santa Claus gave to a boy which caused the boy's parents to faint. Santa Claus returned and replaced the shrunken head with a Puppy.
Zombie Toy Duck (voiced by Greg Proops) - A yellow evil-looking toy duck that has a minor part in the song "Making Christmas" being built and painted by the Vampire Brothers. It later chased after some kids until the real Santa Claus returns and grabs the toy duck.

text: Christmas Town residents[edit]

text:
Christmas Elves - Santa Claus's helpers who are responsible for preparing the gifts and decorations for Christmas.
Penguins - Several penguins can be seen in Christmas Town.
Santa Claus' Reindeer - Santa Claus' reindeer fly with magic and pull Santa's sleigh.
Mrs. Claus - Santa Claus's wife, she is seen in the background as he checks the naughty-nice list.

text: Enemies[edit]

text:
Colossal Moth - A huge moth that has super acidic saliva and exhales poisonous fumes. Featured in The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King.
Fire King Skeleton and Ice King Skeleton - Two bosses from The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. Fought in "Fire and Ice Frenzy," these two big skeletons appear to fight Jack after he replaced the Oogie-Doors with the real Holiday Doors. Use the Santa Jack costume to fight the Fire King Skeleton and the Pumpkin King costume to fight the Ice King Skeleton.
Giant Snake - An artificial bug-filled snake who is a boss in The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King.
Halloween Ghosts - The Halloween Ghosts appear in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge having been created by Dr. Finklestein at the time when Oogie Boogie tricked the citizens of Halloween Town. The Halloween Ghosts are much different from the ghosts that appear in the movie as they are very fast and great at dodging. Tricking them to come near Jack and sending them into the ground is an easy way to defeat them. They are seen in "Jack's Return" in the Oogie Boogie Shadow battle.

King Ghosts - They are stronger than the Halloween Ghosts, but require the same tactics to defeat them.

Mega Spider - A Mega Spider is fought three times in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. It will shoot cobwebs at Jack and even charge. Its weak spot is the pumpkin shape on its abdomen. If successfully attacked there it will go underground and launch Baby Spiders at Jack. Another type of Mega Spider appears in The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King as the mutated pet of Lock, Shock, and Barrel.
Mother Locust - A locust with an abdomen filled with swollen eggs who is a boss in The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King.
Oogie Cycle - A colossal beetle that serves as Oogie's ride and the final boss in The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King. It acts as a motorcycle-like mode of transportation for Oogie, Lock, Shock, and Barrel.
Oogie Train - A scissor-tipped train who is a boss in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. Fought in "Saving Sandy," Jack had to always change the train tracks to keep this scissor-tipped train from going on the track leading to the rope that is holding Santa Claus up. Keep attacking the Oogie-Train while evading skeletons disguised as snowmen.
Roly Poly - A large but somewhat weak pillbug who is a boss in The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King.

Enormous Poly - A large offspring of Rolly Polly. Featured in The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King.

Skeletons - In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Oogie Boogie had a bunch of skeletons that served him which were brought to life by Dr. Finklestein at the time when Oogie Boogie tricked the citizens of Halloween Town. They resemble the Skeletons in Oogie Boogie's lair.

Blue Skeletons - The Blue Skeletons are the easiest to defeat. They are slow and have short reaches unless they are mad and spinning.
Heat Skeletons - The Heat Skeletons are the most annoying of the enemies Jack fights. They have short reaches, but they can throw boomerangs.
Orc Skeletons - They are like the Blue Skeletons except the mad ones wield clubs. Just like the Blue Skeletons, they are slow and have short reaches unless they are mad and spinning.
Troll Skeletons - The Troll Skeletons are big and wield big clubs. They can only be grabbed when the Soul Robber is Level 3. If they drop their clubs, use the Soul Robber to throw the clubs at them.
King Skeletons - The King Skeletons are also big and wield big axes. The attack on the King Skeletons are the same as Troll Skeletons, with two exceptions. They cannot be grabbed at all, only turned around. They can be only hit while they are growling, or from behind.

Zombie Centipede - A huge centipede with wings that was brought back from the dead by Oogie. Featured The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King.

text: Marketing[edit]

text: The owners of the franchise have undertaken an extensive marketing campaign of these characters across many media. In addition to the "Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland" featuring "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas characters,"[24] Jack Skellington, Sally, Pajama Jack, and the mayor have been made into Bendies figures,[25] while Jack and Sally even appear in fine art.[26] Moreover, Sally has been made into an action figure and a Halloween costume.[27] The Mayor has been made into a Bendies figure.[25] Jack is also the titular character in the short story "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Jack's story."[28]

text: Oddly enough, Jim Edwards actually contends that "Tim Burton's animated movie The Nightmare Before Christmas is really a movie about the marketing business. The movie's lead character, Jack Skellington, the chief marketing officer (CMO) for a successful company decides that his success is boring and he wants the company to have a different business plan. Some have wondered which real-life company failure the movie is based on: Sergio Zyman's New Coke or Merck's launch and subsequent withdrawal of Vioxx."[29]

text: Reception[edit]

text: While Yvonne Tasker notes "the complex characterization seen in The Nightmare Before Christmas,"[30] Michael A. Morrison discusses the influence of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas on the film, writing that Jack parallels the Grinch and Zero parallels Max, the Grinch's dog.[31] Philip Nel writes that the film "challenges the wisdom of adults through its trickster characters" contrasting Jack as a "good trickster" with Oogie Boogie, whom he also compares with Dr. Seuss's Dr. Terwilliker, as a bad trickster.[32] Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic see the characters as presented in a more negative light and criticise the film's characters as having racial constructs, with the protagonists using "whitespeak" and the antagonist, Oogie Boogie, using "blackspeak."[33]

text: This perception was not entirely unanticipated by the filmmakers. Danny Elfman was worried the characterization of Oogie Boogie would be considered racist by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).[34] As Delgado and Stefancic's book reveals, Elfman's predictions became true. Nevertheless, director Henry Selick stated the character was inspired from the Betty Boop cartoon The Old Man of the Mountain. "Cab Calloway would dance his inimitable jazz dance and sing "Minnie the Moocher" or "Old Man of the Mountain", and they would rotoscope him, trace him, turn him into a cartoon character, often transforming him into an animal, like a walrus," Selick continued. "I think those are some of the most inventive moments in cartoon history, in no way racist, even though he was sometimes a villain. We went with Ken Page, who is a black singer and he had no problem with it".[35]

text: Regardless of the above controversy, Entertainment Weekly reports that fan reception of these characters borders on obsession, profiling "Laurie and Myk Rudnick a couple who are extremely interested in the motion picture The Nightmare Before Christmas. Their degree of obsession with that film is so great that...they named their son after the real-life person that a character in the film is based on."[36] This enthusiasm for the characters has spread beyond North America to Japan. As Stephen Jones writes, "The Japanese also seemed to go crazy for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas with a fourteen-inch Jack Skellington doll, a gold 'Millennium' edition and a twelve-inch version dressed in pyjamas; a ten-inch Sandy Claws doll; a reversible pillow featuring Jack; a hand-painted set with Lock, Shock and Barrel, or a similar set of four vampires; a set of pull-back racers featuring Jack's faithful dog Zero...a Zero necklace, and various die-cast Jack key-chains, amongst numerous other items."[37]

text: Bryan Theiss explains this enthusiasm in The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide: "The last time I went to Disneyland, I saw more Jack Skellington hats than Mickey ears...because Jack and Sally are...those rare fantasy characters we can relate to on a certain level as much as we can to real-world characters on a more literal level."[38] Jamie Frater adds, "Jack is perfectly realized as the 'town hero' who seeks more in his life (or death, as it may be), a place we all find ourselves time to time. Sally is loverlorn and pines for Jack to not only love her, but to just notice her."[39]


document_title: Land of the Midnight Sun

question_text: which region is called the land of the midnight sun

text: Land of the Midnight Sun

text: Land of the Midnight Sun may refer to:

text:
Any of the world's northern regions above (or close to) the Arctic Circle, i.e. the Arctic
Any of the world's southern regions below (or close to) the Antarctic Circle, usually Antarctica
Land of the Midnight Sun (album), a 1976 album by Al Di Meola
Land of the Midnight Sun, a song from the 2009 album Ancient Journeys by Cusco


document_title: Geography of Africa

question_text: what geographic feature separates north africa from the rest of africa

text: Geography of Africa

text: Main features[edit]

text: The average elevation of the continent approximates closely to 600 m (2,000 ft) above sea level, roughly near to the mean elevation of both North and South America, but considerably less than that of Asia, 950 m (3,120 ft). In contrast with other continents, it is marked by the comparatively small area of either very high or very low ground, lands under 180 m (590 ft) occupying an unusually small part of the surface; while not only are the highest elevations inferior to those of Asia or South America, but the area of land over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) is also quite insignificant, being represented almost entirely by individual peaks and mountain ranges. Moderately elevated tablelands are thus the characteristic feature of the continent, though the surface of these is broken by higher peaks and ridges. (So prevalent are these isolated peaks and ridges that a specialised term [Inselberg-Landschaft, island mountain landscape] has been adopted in Germany to describe this kind of country, thought to be in great part the result of wind action.)

text: As a general rule, the higher tablelands lie to the east and south, while a progressive diminution in altitude towards the west and north is observable. Apart from the lowlands and the Atlas mountain range, the continent may be divided into two regions of higher and lower plateaus, the dividing line (somewhat concave to the north-west) running from the middle of the Red Sea to about 6 deg. S. on the west coast.

text: Africa can be divided into a number of geographic zones:

text:
The coastal plains — often fringed seawards by mangrove swamps — never stretching far from the coast, apart from the lower courses of streams. Recent alluvial flats are found chiefly in the delta of the more important rivers. Elsewhere, the coastal lowlands merely form the lowest steps of the system of terraces that constitutes the ascent to the inner plateaus.
The Atlas range — orthographically distinct from the rest of the continent, being unconnected with and separated from the south by a depressed and desert area (the Sahara).[1]

text: Plateau region[edit]

text: The high southern and eastern plateaus, rarely falling below 600 m (2,000 ft), have a mean elevation of about 1,000 m (3,300 ft). The South African Plateau, as far as about 12° S, is bounded east, west and south by bands of high ground which fall steeply to the coasts. On this account South Africa has a general resemblance to an inverted saucer. Due south, the plateau rim is formed by three parallel steps with level ground between them. The largest of these level areas, the Great Karoo, is a dry, barren region, and a large tract of the plateau proper is of a still more arid character and is known as the Kalahari Desert.[1]

text: The South African Plateau is connected towards East African plateau, with probably a slightly greater average elevation, and marked by some distinct features. It is formed by a widening out of the eastern axis of high ground, which becomes subdivided into a number of zones running north and south and consisting in turn of ranges, tablelands and depressions. The most striking feature is the existence of two great lines of depression, due largely to the subsidence of whole segments of the Earth's crust, the lowest parts of which are occupied by vast lakes. Towards the south the two lines converge and give place to one great valley (occupied by Lake Nyasa), the southern part of which is less distinctly due to rifting and subsidence than the rest of the system.[1]

text: Farther north the western hollow, known as the Albertine Rift, is occupied for more than half its length by water, forming the Great Lakes of Tanganyika, Kivu, Lake Edward and Lake Albert, the first-named over 400 miles (640 km) long and the longest freshwater lake in the world. Associated with these great valleys are a number of volcanic peaks, the greatest of which occur on a meridional line east of the eastern trough. The eastern branch of the East African Rift, contains much smaller lakes, many of them brackish and without outlet, the only one comparable to those of the western trough being Lake Turkana or Basso Norok.[1]

text: A short distance east of this rift-valley is Mount Kilimanjaro — with its two peaks Kibo and Mawenzi, the latter being 5,889 m (19,321 ft), and the culminating point of the whole continent — and Mount Kenya, which is 5,184 m (17,008 ft). Hardly less important is the Ruwenzori Range, over 5,060 m (16,600 ft), which lies east of the western trough. Other volcanic peaks rise from the floor of the valleys, some of the Kirunga (Mfumbiro) group, north of Lake Kivu, being still partially active.[1] This could cause most of the cities and states to be flooded with lava and ash.

text: The third division of the higher region of Africa is formed by the Ethiopian Highlands, a rugged mass of mountains forming the largest continuous area of its altitude in the whole continent, little of its surface falling below 1,500 m (4,900 ft), while the summits reach heights of 4400 m to 4550 m. This block of country lies just west of the line of the great East African Trough, the northern continuation of which passes along its eastern escarpment as it runs up to join the Red Sea. There is, however, in the centre a circular basin occupied by Lake Tsana.[1]

text: Both in the east and west of the continent the bordering highlands are continued as strips of plateau parallel to the coast, the Ethiopian mountains being continued northwards along the Red Sea coast by a series of ridges reaching in places a height of 2,000 m (6,600 ft). In the west the zone of high land is broader but somewhat lower. The most mountainous districts lie inland from the head of the Gulf of Guinea (Adamawa, etc.), where heights of 1,800 to 2,400 m (5,900 to 7,900 ft) are reached. Exactly at the head of the gulf the great peak of the Cameroon, on a line of volcanic action continued by the islands to the south-west, has a height of 4,075 m (13,369 ft), while Clarence Peak, in Fernando Po, the first of the line of islands, rises to over 2,700 m (8,900 ft). Towards the extreme west the Futa Jallon highlands form an important diverging point of rivers, but beyond this, as far as the Atlas chain, the elevated rim of the continent is almost wanting.[1]

text: Plains[edit]

text: Much is Africa is made up of plains of the pediplain and etchplain type often occurring as steps. The etchplains aare commonly associated with laterite soil and inselbergs.[2]

text: The area between the east and west coast highlands, which north of 17° N is mainly desert, is divided into separate basins by other bands of high ground, one of which runs nearly centrally through North Africa in a line corresponding roughly with the curved axis of the continent as a whole. The best marked of the basins so formed (the Congo basin) occupies a circular area bisected by the equator, once probably the site of an inland sea.[1]

text: Running along the south of desert is the plains region known as the Sahel.

text: The arid region, the Sahara — the largest hot desert in the world, covering 9,000,000 km2 (3,500,000 sq mi) — extends from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. Though generally of slight elevation, it contains mountain ranges with peaks rising to 2,400 m (7,900 ft) Bordered N.W. by the Atlas range, to the northeast a rocky plateau separates it from the Mediterranean; this plateau gives place at the extreme east to the delta of the Nile. That river (see below) pierces the desert without modifying its character. The Atlas range, the north-westerly part of the continent, between its seaward and landward heights encloses elevated steppes in places 160 km (99 mi) broad. From the inner slopes of the plateau numerous wadis take a direction towards the Sahara. The greater part of that now desert region is, indeed, furrowed by old water-channels.[1]

text: Mountains[edit]

text: The following table gives the details of the chief mountains and ranges of the continent:[1]

text:
Mountain
Range
Country
Height (m)
Height (ft)
Prominence (m)
Isolation (km)

Kilimanjaro
Eastern Rift volcanoes
Tanzania
5895
19,340
5885
5510

Mt Kenya
Eastern Rift volcanoes
Kenya
5199
17,058
3825
 323

Mt Stanley
Rwenzori Mtns
Uganda/DRC
5109
16,762
3951
 830

Mt Meru
Eastern Rift volcanoes
Tanzania
4566
14,980
3170
  70

Ras Dashen
Semien Mountains
Ethiopia
4533
14,872
3997
1483

Mt Karisimbi
Virunga mountains
Rwanda/DRC
4507
14,787
3312
 207

Mt Elgon
Eastern Rift volcanoes
Uganda
4321
14,178
2458
 339

Toubkal
Atlas mountains
Morocco
4167
13,671
3755
2078

Mt Cameroon
Cameroon line
Cameroon
4095
13,435
3901
2338

Mt Satima
Aberdare range
Kenya
4001
13,120
2081
  77

Thabana Ntlenyana
Drakensberg
Lesotho
3482
11,422
2390
3003

Emi Koussi
Tibesti mountains
Chad
3445
11,302
2934
2001

Sapitwa Peak
Mulanje Massif
Malawi
3002
 9,849
2319
1272

text: Rivers[edit]

text: From the outer margin of the African plateaus, a large number of streams run to the sea with comparatively short courses, while the larger rivers flow for long distances on the interior highlands, before breaking through the outer ranges. The main drainage of the continent is to the north and west, or towards the basin of the Atlantic Ocean.[1]

text: To the main African rivers belong: Nile (the longest river of Africa), Congo (river with the highest water discharge on the continent) and the Niger, which flows half of its length through the arid areas. The largest lakes are the following: Lake Victoria (Lake Ukerewe), Lake Chad, in the centre of the continent, Lake Tanganyika, lying between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia. There is also the considerably large Lake Malawi stretching along the eastern border of one of the poorest countries in the world -Malawi. There are also numerous water dams throughout the continent: Kariba on the river of Zambezi, Asuan in Egypt on the river of Nile and the biggest dam of the continent lying completely in The republic of Ghana is called Akosombo on the Volta river (Fobil 2003). The high lake plateau of the African Great Lakes region contains the headwaters of both the Nile and the Congo.

text: The upper Nile receives its chief supplies from the mountainous region adjoining the Central African trough in the neighbourhood of the equator.[1] From there, streams pour eastward into Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa (covering over 26,000 square m.), and to the west and north into Lake Edward and Lake Albert. To the latter of these, the effluents of the other two lakes add their waters.[1] Issuing from there, the Nile flows northward, and between the latitudes of 7 and 10 degrees north it traverses a vast marshy level, where its course is liable to being blocked by floating vegetation.[1] After receiving the Bahr-el-Ghazal from the west and the Sobat, Blue Nile and Atbara from the Ethiopian Highlands (the chief gathering ground of the flood-water), it separates the great desert with its fertile watershed, and enters the Mediterranean at a vast delta.[1]

text: The most remote head-stream of the Congo is the Chambezi, which flows southwest into the marshy Lake Bangweulu. From this lake issues the Congo, known in its upper course by various names. Flowing first south, it afterwards turns north through Lake Mweru and descends to the forest-clad basin of west equatorial Africa. Traversing this in a majestic northward curve, and receiving vast supplies of water from many great tributaries, it finally turns southwest and cuts a way to the Atlantic Ocean through the western highlands.[1]

text: North of the Congo basin, and separated from it by a broad undulation of the surface, is the basin of Lake Chad – a flat-shored, shallow lake filled principally by the Chari coming from the southeast.[1]

text: West of this is the basin of the Niger, the third major river of Africa. With its principal source in the far west, it reverses the direction of flow exhibited by the Nile and Congo,[1] and ultimately flows into the Atlantic — a fact that eluded European geographers for many centuries. An important branch, however — the Benue—flows from the southeast.

text: These four river basins occupy the greater part of the lower plateaus of North and West Africa — the remainder consists of arid regions watered only by intermittent streams that do not reach the sea.[1]

text: Of the remaining rivers of the Atlantic basin, the Orange, in the extreme south, brings the drainage from the Drakensberg on the opposite side of the continent, while the Kunene, Kwanza, Ogowe and Sanaga drain the west coastal highlands of the southern limb; the Volta, Komoe, Bandama, Gambia and Senegal the highlands of the western limb. North of the Senegal, for over 1,500 km (930 mi) of coast, the arid region reaches to the Atlantic. Farther north are the streams, with comparatively short courses, reaching the Atlantic and Mediterranean from the Atlas mountains.[1]

text: Of the rivers flowing to the Indian Ocean, the only one draining any large part of the interior plateaus is the Zambezi, whose western branches rise in the western coastal highlands. The main stream has its rise in 11°21′3″ S 24°22′ E, at an elevation of 1,500 m (4,900 ft). It flows to the west and south for a considerable distance before turning eastward. All the largest tributaries, including the Shire, the outflow of Lake Nyasa, flow down the southern slopes of the band of high ground stretching across the continent from 10° to 12° S. In the southwest, the Zambezi system interlaces with that of the Taukhe (or Tioghe), from which it at times receives surplus water. The rest of the water of the Taukhe, known in its middle course as the Okavango, is lost in a system of swamps and saltpans that was formerly centred in Lake Ngami, now dried up.[1]

text: Farther south, the Limpopo drains a portion of the interior plateau, but breaks through the bounding highlands on the side of the continent nearest its source. The Rovuma, Rufiji and Tana principally drain the outer slopes of the African Great Lakes highlands.[1]

text: In the Horn region to the north, the Jubba and the Shebelle rivers begin in the Ethiopian Highlands. These rivers mainly flow southwards, with the Jubba emptying in the Indian Ocean. The Shebelle River reaches a point to the southwest. After that, it consists of swamps and dry reaches before finally disappearing in the desert terrain near the Jubba River. Another large stream, the Hawash, rising in the Ethiopian mountains, is lost in a saline depression near the Gulf of Aden.[1]

text: Between the basins of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, there is an area of inland drainage along the centre of the Ethiopian plateau, directed chiefly into the lakes in the Great Rift Valley.[1] The largest river is the Omo, which, fed by the rains of the Ethiopian highlands, carries down a large body of water into Lake Rudolf. The rivers of Africa are generally obstructed either by bars at their mouths, or by cataracts at no great distance upstream. But when these obstacles have been overcome, the rivers and lakes afford a vast network of navigable waters.[1]

text: The area of the Congo basin is greater than that of any other river except the Amazon, while the African inland drainage area is greater than that of any continent but Asia, where the corresponding area is 1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi).[1]

text: Lakes[edit]

text: The principal lakes of Africa are situated in the African Great Lakes plateau. As a rule, the lakes found within the Great Rift Valley have steep sides and are very deep. This is the case with the two largest of the type, Tanganyika and Nyasa, the latter with depths of 800 m (2,600 ft).

text: Others, however, are shallow, and hardly reach the steep sides of the valleys in the dry season. Such are Lake Rukwa, in a subsidiary depression north of Nyasa, and Eiassi and Manyara in the system of the Great Rift Valley. Lakes of the broad type are of moderate depth, the deepest sounding in Lake Victoria being under 90 m (300 ft).[1]

text: Besides the African Great Lakes, the principal lakes on the continent are: Lake Chad, in the northern inland watershed; Bangweulu and Mweru, traversed by the head-stream of the Congo; and Lake Mai-Ndombe and Ntomba (Mantumba), within the great bend of that river. All, except possibly Mweru, are more or less shallow, and Lake Chad appears to be drying up.[1]

text: Divergent opinions have been held as to the mode of origin of the African Great Lakes, especially Tanganyika, which some geologists have considered to represent an old arm of the sea, dating from a time when the whole central Congo basin was under water; others holding that the lake water has accumulated in a depression caused by subsidence. The former view is based on the existence in the lake of organisms of a decidedly marine type. They include jellyfish, molluscs, prawns, crabs, etc.[1]

text:
Lake
m
ft

Chad
259
850

Mai-Ndombe
335
1100

Turkana
381
1250

Malawi
501
1645

Albert
618
2028

Tanganyika
800
2624

Ngami
899
2950

Mweru
914
3000

Edward
916
3004

Bangweulu
1128
3700

Victoria
1134
3720

Abaya
1280
4200

Kivu
1472
4829

Tana
1734
5690

Naivasha
1870
6135

text: Islands[edit]

text: With the exception of Madagascar, the African islands are small. Madagascar, with an area of 587,041 km2 (226,658 sq mi), is, after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo, the fourth largest island on the Earth.[1] It lies in the Indian Ocean, off the S.E. coast of the continent, from which it is separated by the deep Mozambique channel, 400 km (250 mi) wide at its narrowest point.[3] Madagascar in its general structure, as in flora and fauna, forms a connecting link between Africa and southern Asia. East of Madagascar are the small islands of Mauritius and Réunion.[1] There are also islands in the Gulf of Guinea on which lies the Republic of Sao Tomé and Príncipe (islands of São Tomé and Príncipe). Part of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is lying on the island of Bioko (with the capital Malabo and the town of Lubu) and the island of Annobón. Socotra lies E.N.E. of Cape Guardafui. Off the north-west coast are the Canary and Cape Verde archipelagoes. which, like some small islands in the Gulf of Guinea, are of volcanic origin.[1] The South Atlantic Islands of Saint Helena and Ascension are classed as Africa but are situated on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge half way to South America.

text: Climatic conditions[edit]

text: Lying almost entirely within the tropics, and equally to north and south of the equator, Africa does not show excessive variations of temperature.[1][4]

text: Great heat is experienced in the lower plains and desert regions of North Africa, removed by the great width of the continent from the influence of the ocean, and here, too, the contrast between day and night, and between summer and winter, is greatest. (The rarity of the air and the great radiation during the night cause the temperature in the Sahara to fall occasionally to freezing point.)[1]

text: Farther south, the heat is to some extent modified by the moisture brought from the ocean, and by the greater elevation of a large part of the surface, especially in East Africa, where the range of temperature is wider than in the Congo basin or on the Guinea coast.[1]

text: In the extreme north and south the climate is a warm temperate one, the northern countries being on the whole hotter and drier than those in the southern zone; the south of the continent being narrower than the north, the influence of the surrounding ocean is more felt.[1]

text: The most important climatic differences are due to variations in the amount of rainfall. The wide heated plains of the Sahara, and in a lesser degree the corresponding zone of the Kalahari in the south, have an exceedingly scanty rainfall, the winds which blow over them from the ocean losing part of their moisture as they pass over the outer highlands, and becoming constantly drier owing to the heating effects of the burning soil of the interior; while the scarcity of mountain ranges in the more central parts likewise tends to prevent condensation. In the inter-tropical zone of summer precipitation, the rainfall is greatest when the sun is vertical or soon after. It is therefore greatest of all near the equator, where the sun is twice vertical, and less in the direction of both tropics.[1]

text: The rainfall zones are, however, somewhat deflected from a due west-to-east direction, the drier northern conditions extending southwards along the east coast, and those of the south northwards along the west. Within the equatorial zone certain areas, especially on the shores of the Gulf of Guinea and in the upper Nile basin, have an intensified rainfall, but this rarely approaches that of the rainiest regions of the world. The rainiest district in all Africa is a strip of coastland west of Mount Cameroon, where there is a mean annual rainfall of about 10,000 mm (394 in) as compared with a mean of 11,600 mm (457 in) at Cherrapunji, in Meghalaya, India.[1]

text: The two distinct rainy seasons of the equatorial zone, where the sun is vertical at half-yearly intervals, become gradually merged into one in the direction of the tropics, where the sun is overhead but once. Snow falls on all the higher mountain ranges, and on the highest the climate is thoroughly Alpine.[1]

text: The countries bordering the Sahara are much exposed to a very dry wind, full of fine particles of sand, blowing from the desert towards the sea. Known in Egypt as the khamsin, on the Mediterranean as the sirocco, it is called on the Guinea coast the harmattan. This wind is not invariably hot; its great dryness causes so much evaporation that cold is not infrequently the result. Similar dry winds blow from the Kalahari Desert in the south. On the eastern coast the monsoons of the Indian Ocean are regularly felt, and on the southeast hurricanes are occasionally experienced.[1]

text: Health[edit]

text: The climate of Africa lends itself to certain environmental diseases, the most serious of which are: malaria, sleeping sickness and yellow fever. Malaria is the most deadly environmental disease in Africa. It is transmitted by a genus of mosquito (anopheles mosquito) native to Africa, and can be contracted over and over again. There is not yet a vaccine for malaria, which makes it difficult to prevent the disease from spreading in Africa. Recently, the dissemination of mosquito netting has helped lower the rate of malaria.

text: Yellow fever is a disease also transmitted by mosquitoes native to Africa. Unlike malaria, it cannot be contracted more than once. Like chicken pox, it is a disease that tends to be severe the later in life a person contracts the disease.[4]

text: Sleeping sickness, or African trypanosomiasis, is a disease that usually affects animals, but has been known to be fatal to some humans as well. It is transmitted by the Tsetse fly and is found almost exclusively in Sub-Saharan Africa.[5] This disease has had a significant impact on African development not because of its deadly nature, like Malaria, but because it has prevented Africans from pursuing agriculture (as the sleeping sickness would kill their livestock).[4]

text: Extreme points[edit]

text: These are the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location on the continent.

text:
Northernmost point — Iles des Chiens, Tunisia (37°32'N)
Southernmost point — Cape Agulhas, South Africa (34°51'15"S)[6]
Westernmost point — Santo Antão, Cape Verde Islands (25°25'W)
Easternmost point — Rodrigues, Mauritius (63°30'E)
The African pole of inaccessibility is close to the border of Central African Republic, South Sudan and Congo, near the town of Obo.

text:
Northernmost point — Ras ben Sakka (Ra's al Abyad) (Cape Blanc), Tunisia
Southernmost point — Cape Agulhas, South Africa
Westernmost point — Pointe des Almadies, Cap Vert Peninsula, Ngor, Dakar, Senegal (17°33'22"W)
Easternmost point — Ras Hafun (Raas Xaafuun), Somalia (51°27'52"E)

text: The highest point in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro, 5,891.8 m (19,330 ft)[7] in Tanzania. The lowest point is Lake Asal, 153 m (502 ft) below sea level, in Djibouti.